My blue book
My blue cookbook started as a new Travancore Dewasom Board yearly diary presented to my dad in early ‘97. It is handwritten cookery book now. The initial recipes were signature traditional dishes shared by the elder ladies of the family before I joined my husband with my not-yet-one-year-old daughter in Dubai. I was in my late teens and knew no cooking. My thought were utopian in the beginning…neatly written down recipes in English which will be handed down as a family heirloom to my daughter but slowly my other languages found their way in to the pages. Somehow writing ‘kadugu thalikkal’ in Malayalam or Tamil encompasses more & is almost short-hand to the long sentence in English!! (Splutter mustard, urad dal and red chillies. Add curry leaf.) Now, the dog-eared diary contains recipes from so many wonderful home cooks, single-dish flaunters and also some shared by chefs in restaurants who were coaxed to not skimp the details!! My children have added to the collect...
